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Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Policy

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 05:18:39 PM EST
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The Pentagon today announced the end of the CIA's ghost detainee practice, where it hides imprisoned terror suspects in foreign prisons while it interrogates them.

Stephen Cambone, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, assured the U.S. Senate that new interim rules on military interrogations eliminate the CIA's practice at Abu Ghraib of hiding detainees and subjecting them to separate interrogation methods that critics say were harsher than those employed by the military.

Does this mean Ghost Air is grounded? Or will it continue to fly the unfriendly skies because the detainees are housed in prisons under the control of a foreign government rather than in a U.S. Military prison? Background on Ghost Air is here.

Can Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed now be transferred to a U.S. prison? If they are no longer to be held in secret, can Moussaoui now depose them for his death penalty trial?

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    Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Policy | 6 comments (6 topical)
    Re: Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Polic (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 06:12:25 PM EST
    These people have mastered the art of saying one thing with a great deal of passion, then doing the exact opposite. My guess is that few, if any, of the current ghost detainees will be transferred or accounted for. Hope I am wrong. Any of you who think this is going to happen, be sure and let me know when Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are accounted for, allowed to be seen by the Red Cross, etc. My guess is that the ghost detainees will now become the disappeared. The war criminals in DC will say, well, we don't know where they are, we dropped them off in Turkey or Egypt or at the Saudi border with a couple of mre's. They're like Osama, who really cares where they are, they can't do us any harm now. But we're close to catching Zarqawi, we already have his computer gear and we found his extension cords and power supply, etc. Let's move forward and start talking about Iran and Kim Jong Il. These are really dangerous people who are starving their people, they have death camps, they don't return phone calls, etc.

    Re: Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Polic (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 06:17:59 PM EST
    I love this exchange: McCain asks about the change in policy: "So that assumes there will be no more so-called ghost prisoners in our military prisons?" "Sir, to the extent that we can assure you that. I'm here to do that for you," Cambone answered.
    Re: Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Polic (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 06:20:52 PM EST
    How about this exchange: Sen. John McCain of Arizona asked Cambone if the CIA could still hold ghost detainees under its own rules and practices at military prisons. "I don't believe so. No," replied the Pentagon official, who said newly issued interim interrogation rules now require a single standard to be applied at military facilities. He was slipping a bit, that was almost a No answer. But I don't think so, no.

    Re: Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Polic (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 06:22:37 PM EST
    Elliot Abrams practiced the art of lying to Congress a couple of administrations ago. As I recall, one of the congresspeople later said about Abrams: If he gave me the time of day, I would check my watch.

    Re: Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Polic (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 08:01:01 PM EST
    CA, how true. And even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

    Re: Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Polic (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 08:19:25 PM EST
    It rather obviously doesn't stop the CIA holding ghost detainees in CIA prisons. Or foreign governments' prisons. Shouldn't it be the CIA producing rules on its interrogation procedures?

    Pentagon Says No to CIA's Ghost Detainee Policy | 6 comments (6 topical)